


to be encased in ice (to be consumed by fire)

by Mamichigo



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, Fairy Tale Elements, M/M, Poetic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:55:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21962464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mamichigo/pseuds/Mamichigo
Summary: Deep, deep below the surface, away from the common eye, there rested the imprisoned body of Kageyama Tobio.And there, where the ice was thick and impossible to break, Hinata Shouyou burned him out of his cage.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio
Comments: 6
Kudos: 67





	to be encased in ice (to be consumed by fire)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sevensus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sevensus/gifts).



> Mandy voice: okay but like what if I kept coming up with fairytale ideas
> 
> This was written for the Haikyuu Secret! Also Salem my dude I hope you enjoy it

The first glimpse he caught of Hinata Shouyou was through a solid sheet of ice, with eyes frozen open by the gelid water of the lake his body was trapped in, meters upon meters below the surface.

It was around the last week of summer—he could tell from the way the flowers grew shier, smaller, and even the forever frozen lake became colder with the blow of the wind. The sun had been hiding behind dark clouds for three days now, and Tobio watched with his paralyzed limbs. He had watched the shift of seasons more times than he could count, but each time Tobio missed the light of the sun, the only time he could pretend to feel warmth on his fingertips.

It wouldn't be longer now, till all the greenery died out. Tobio exhaled a sigh, but his breath got lost in his lung, unable to even come out.

It was then, as the carbon dioxide turned into cutting icicles, that Tobio saw a figure, the bright orange of it making him wonder if Summer had been prolonged after all. He had been short on miracles for the entirety of his lifetime, but Tobio was willing to hope he'd be granted a blessing this once.

The figure drew closer, fire dancing on the ice, approaching like a comet descending onto the unforgived earth. Tobio didn't bother fighting, even if his legs attempted to move entirely on instinct—not even a twitch was felt. The fire spread as it touched the surface, not like flame on wood, but like serpents withering with confident slides, squirming into the cracks, widening it, forcing it open. He heard the ice splinter for the very first time in what was probably decades, then collapse entirely to fall onto him, around him, down into the water in sinking pieces.

The fire didn't stop there, surrounding him as the ice fell, warming his muscles, urging them to move, to go, to _rise._ And when he reached a hand for the flame, it moved, and it burned his fingertips, licked by the flames. The water, too, unfroze, and entered his lungs as he inhaled sharply, but Tobio kicked his legs nonetheless, fighting to get to the surface.

Tobio broke from his icy cave shivering, coughing, and almost vomiting, holding on to drifting ice platforms with weakened fingers, but with the strength of someone given the chance to live again.

Hinata Shouyou, as Tobio would learn the owner of flames was named, was no longer anywhere to be seen.

*

It was an odd feeling, realizing how the world had shifted around him. From beneath the ice, it all had seemed the same: the sky, the forest, the grass, the rocks. It was a cycle ingrained into his mind, one that reassured him there was still a reality out there that he was familiar with.

But the people, the city... They were different. Everyone walked around in strange, exaggerated clothes, flaunting something that Tobio didn't quite grasp what it was. Their speech, too, had a different intonation, one he could hardly recognize as his own language. Entire cities had fallen, only for new ones to rise; different reigns, rules, laws, different coin.

Tobio wandered through the crowds, more lost than happy. More hollow than fulfilled, even when he was out of his cage. He wrapped himself in thick furs, gritting his teeth as the cold slowly creeped in. If he ever got distracted, too lost in his own thoughts, Tobio could feel the frost at his ankles, his wrists, his neck.

Eventually, he had to give up on his walks entirely, instead finding an old, abandoned house, with creaky floors and a collapsed roof. There, he could light a fire, curl up next to it and, wrapped in five blankets or more, focus only on keeping his blood circulating, keep the oxygen in his lungs.

Every night, he wondered, though not for long, what he should do now that he was free. Outside, the rain slowly but steadily turned into snow.

*

It was almost a full month later, when his body became significantly harder to move in, that Tobio returned to the lake. His coat had stopped providing warmth only a week in, but he still buried his face in the fur, obscuring his features. It did a good job of protecting his skin from the cutting wind, at least, and that was already enough to him.

He stepped onto the makeshift rink, sliding a few centimeters closer to the center. Then, he took a few cautious steps, one after the other, each one echoing in the same rhythm of his breathing. Cracks formed as he went along even before he stepped on the ice, following him rather than being created by him. Tobio frowned down at it, but trudged on with confidence, despite the heaviness of his limbs. At times, he was sure he would sink, just an anchor at sea, but he remained stubbornly on top of the ice, and not under it.

When he reached the center, so did the cracks, and they parted in an unnatural way, forming a perfect circle just a step away from him. Tobio instinctively put some distance between him and the opening, though his body leaned forward, towards the call of the water below. The wind knocked at his ankles, propelling him closer, but his feet were planted to the ice. Tobio breathed in, breathed out, and shivered inside his furs.

The minutes passed by, but the sun did not come out. For all Tobio knew, it could've been hours, and he would be unable to tell the difference. The glow of it was lost, had been for as long as he had been awake—at the end, it didn't feel like he had left his cage at all.

Tobio looked up, to the horizon, just in time to see an orange light at the edge of it. He strained his eyes against the disorienting white glow of the ice and snow to try and focus on the image, but his eyes stung until it watered, and the tears were frozen before they could fully form.

Uncertain, Tobio searched for the sky, where he could still see the faint presence of the sun, discarding the silly idea that the star had fallen from its resting place. The notion did serve a purpose, however, as Tobio remembered thinking of an approaching "sun" before, too recent to be a mere coincidence.

Once the silhouette had come closer, Tobio could see more of it, though the image didn't become less baffling even then. He saw bare feet, padding silently on the frozen ground, leaving wisps of smoke where it touched the surface. He saw pale skin that twinkled in gold hues, and a shockful of messy orange hair.

Butmore importantly, he saw wings. Not just simple wings, but ones made of fire, burning in orange like the color of the person's hair, clumps of it falling off like feathers, except they burned through everything around, even the impenetrable ice below them, sinking right to the bottom.

Tobio's instinct was to turn to leave, to run in the opposite direction, away from whoever approached so calmly when they were quite literally burning the ground they stood on.

But there was a warmth in the air, a heat that simmered and hung heavy, the taste of it on his lips. He reached a hand towards it, just as the person stopped before him, on the other side of the circular opening that separated them. Tobio pulled his hand right back, frowned. His suspicion overrode the longing to put his fingers in the fire, even as the frost rising up his arms fell away like powder.

"Who are you?" Tobio rumbled, steady and cold like the lake.

The person tilted their head at him. Amber eyes glimmered as they smiled. "I'm Hinata Shouyou, nice to meet you!" Tobio narrowed his eyes, unwilling to return the favor; he only glared. Seeming to understand his train of thought, Hinata grinned wider. "And you're Kageyama Tobio, right?"

His frown deepened and his fists clenched, body language rigid, defensive. "Why do you know my name?"

"I just happened to hear about it," Hinata said dismissively. "This is where you were dropped, right into the lake. I heard about that, too."

Tobio had to swallow his own words at least three times to control himself and the violence that fought to get out. "That day, a month ago," he said instead. "It was you who freed me." Hinata opened his mouth, but Tobio growled low in his throat. "And _don't_ try to deny it."

Hinata raised his hands in a show of innocence, and Tobio scoffed in reaction. "Why?"

Hinata hummed in a way that indicated he was thinking on his answer. At the end, he shrugged. "There were so many tales about a powerful magic user trapped at the bottom of a lake, I just..." He made a vague hand gesture. "I wanted to check it out for myself."

"That's all?"

Hinata nodded. "That's all."

Tobio gritted his teeth hard enough for his jaw to ache, for his nerves to protest. His shivering body spammed violently and he lurched forward, staying on the very edge of the opening in the ice. The whispering from it got louder, but he ignored its calls.

"Is this some kind of joke to you?" Tobio asked in a strained voice.

"What does that mean?"

" _This_ -" he pointed to the lake, to the still water just waiting for them to fall in- "is a _prison_! I was captured and threw into this... This frigid hell!"

Tobio circled around the opening, approaching Hinata, who watched him with calculating eyes, but he did not back away.

"I wasn't even given the right to rot like a normal person!" He yelled, voice tore out of his throat. "You come here and free me, only for what? Your sick curiosity?"

Tobio got a hold of the top of Hinata's shirt and pulled him up and closer, his feet dragging on the ice with the motion. "Do you think I'm a pet for you to watch doing silly tricks?"

There was no trace of the carefree smile Hinata had showcased before, his eyes darker.

"Why were you thrown into the lake, Kageyama Tobio?"

"I was too dangerous."

Hinata clicked his tongue, clearly dissatisfied with the answer. "What was so great about your magic that had you imprisoned _here_?"

"I have the power to absorb."

Hinata laughed. "Absorb?" He snorted, drawling out the word like Tobio had just told a joke. Tobio wasn't moved by the display, and soon the smile fell again. "That doesn't make any sense. Absorb what?"

"Anything. Elements, magic, auras, feelings, thoughts." The fist he still had on Hinata's clothing shifted, knuckles grazing his collarbones. "Life."

Hinata's eyes went wide at the same time his wings flared up, the movement making several clumps of fire fall off in Tobio's direction, hitting his hands, his cheek and his neck. He let go and backed away more out of instinct than out of fear, or discomfort. More frost fell from his body, bit by bit.

"That reaction," Tobio pointed out, nonplussed by the ordeal. "That exactly."

Hinata breathed heavily, touching the point where Tobio's finger made contact, like he was looking for an injury there. Tobio scoffed.

"Hinata Shouyou," he said, and Hinata snapped to attention. "Thank you for freeing me. Do not come find me again."

*

Fall had been hard on his body, but Winter had him wishing to be buried in freezing water again, where his limbs, even his heart, had been numb, unaware of pain, of anything else other than enclosing cold.

Tobio knew this was an effect of the time he spent in the lake, merging with it like wearing a second skin. He could feel its whispers, deep into the night, always the loudest when the moon was high in the sky and the wind was howling. He felt the ice circulating, taking, growing along his limbs, his veins, his organs, the frost becoming thin sheets of ice. Sometimes, when his skull felt like it was being compressed and he was almost delirious with the thoughts that swarmed his head, Tobio felt like he could tilt his face to the side and watch water pour out from inside himself.

Even if he lied on fire, his skin remained cold, pale, almost blue. These days, he looked more like a specter than a human.

At times, Tobio thought of Hinata, and the sensation of having his wings burn him to his core. When he tossed and turned on the bed, it was of fiery hair that he thought of.

Perhaps it had been his greedy yearning that made them cross paths again, in a dimly lit tavern crowded with people itching for a fight, but staying in their seats all the same. Tobio had found himself in a corner of said tavern well into the night, cup as empty as his thoughts.

"I thought you'd be the type to brood," was Hinata's greeting as he approached. Tobio jumped, then frowned, wondering how he had gotten so close without Tobio sensing his warmth first.

Except, as Tobio looked up at him, he realized Hinata's wing were translucent, dispersing the light that went through them into rainbow colors, just like a crystal. The tips of the perfectly polished ice were dripping, water droplets hitting the floor each thirty seconds. And once he ceased to be distracted by that, Tobio finally took in the entirety of Hinata's features. More specifically, his hair and eyelashes, turned a stark white just like freshly fallen snow. His skin, too, seemed to glow silver and blue, instead of gold.

"What the hell happened to you?" Is what Tobio managed to reply, once he found his words again.

"Nothing?" Hinata looked about himself in confusion, face lighting up a minute later as he realized what Tobio was referring to. "Oh! Well, it is winter, so I've changed to match."

Tobio wrinkled his nose with distaste. "Why would anyone want to match Winter of all seasons?"

Hinata crossed his arms. "I don't have control over that, it just happens," he said, slightly irritated.

Tobio hummed in response, and busied his fingers with swirling his tankard around, like there was anything in it to swirl.

"I know you said not to come find you again, but..." Hinata started, but trailed off by the end. His hand moved, hovered somewhere close to Tobio's cup, to his own hands.

Tobio looked up, and a chill ran through him as their eyes met.

He acted faster than he could think, clutching Hinata's wrist in a none too gentle grip, halting its hesitant approach.

"Yeah, I did say not to come find me." Tobio stared into Hinata's eyes, and Hinata struggled to get himself free. As he got agitated, the coldness of him enveloped the air, and Tobio leaned away from the it, holding back the urge to snarl defensively. "I meant it."

He left before Hinata could get a word in, to the sound of his name being shouted in equal parts frustration and desperation.

*

Tobio endured the winter, though freezing through most of it. He had gotten into the habit of, instead of seeking warmth, searching for where the cold was harshest, lying down where the snow would fall and eventually cover him entirely. If he stayed there for long enough, his heartbeat slowed, and Tobio was drawn into a lull. His sleep, then, was a deep one that wouldn't break for days, causing weeks to go by without him being present for most of it.

He rarely remembered his dreams, but he remembered a voice every time: maybe it was his own, but maybe it wasn't.

 _I want to see you_ , it said, and Tobio repeated it in feverish whispers, still deep in his dreams.

With his days spent like this, spring came sooner, but not soon enough. Tobio hurt with the spread of the ice, as even his eyes were covered in a layer of it—luckily enough, it was sheer enough for Tobio to see through it, but that was only a small mercy.

He made the grass his bed this time, waiting for the cold to thaw, but it never quite reached that point. The ice became thinner, but never went away entirely. Not even the hottest hours could break through it. The sun touched his skin but provided no warmth.

 _I want to see you_ , he whispered, his hands tingling, gripping around nothing.

Tobio was dozing on a patch of yellow flowers when droplets fell on his cheek, and he predicted rain was about to pour. However, his eyes opened to not find not dark, looming clouds, but a smiling face leaning over him.

"You again," Tobio deadpanned.

Hinata shifted away, and so did his wings, now completely melted and leaving wet trails with each twitch of it. His hair was now a diluted orange, almost yellow, like dye mixed with too much water.

Tobio was too tired to inspect him for any further details, so he closed his eyes against it 

"Well, yes," Hinata said.

"Why do you keep finding me?"

Hinata plopped down beside him, petals flying off he did so.

"I keep thinking next time I'll find you dead," Hinata confessed, wringing his hands together.

"And why do you care?"

Hinata shrugged. "I should have a reason?"

Tobio sighed, rolled to the other side, away from Hinata. "That's what people usually do, yes."

"Sorry to disappoint, then," Hinata said with a pout clear in his tone of voice.

Tobio huffed, burying his face into the glass, the smell of the flowers clogging his nose.

"Are you sleeping?" Hinata prompted, lightly nudging him. "Kageyama?"

Tobio didn't bother moving, or talking. Hinata grumbled something in annoyance, but, after a minute of prolonged silence, pressed a hand to Tobio's forehead. His warmth was less blazing fire, and more sun-warmed water instead. Tobio leaned into it without realizing, and felt the ice in his eyes melt, sliding down the bridge of his nose and temple to fall to the ground below.

*

Permission, even if given with no words and without meaning to, was all Hinata had been waiting for as he had kept his distance to honor Tobio's desire (but not in its entirety, as it seemed Hinata wasn't so inclined to stay away for longer than a season's time). From the day Tobio allowed for him to stay by his side as he slept, Hinata would not leave.

He wasn't always glued to Tobio, but he was nearby, across rivers, up on trees, hid among flowers. Ever just a few steps away, a few winds away, close enough for his presence to stay at the edge of Tobio's attention, unable to ignore but not really intruding.

The warm breezes that blew between them shook Tobio to his core, a shiver that was oh so different from the ones he hid under thick coats and a hard demeanor. It had a sweet note to it, and Tobio often found himself licking his lips at the feeling of it.

If Hinata was aware of that effect, of the way Tobio shifted towards his spring-warm wings to the point of getting his own clothes damp, if he felt speeding heartbeats and short breaths, Hinata didn't say. And Tobio, used to stealing from others, simply welcomed the warmth, let it under his skin so it would melt him right off.

*

The arrival of summer was received with great anticipation on Tobio's part, and where others were already complaining about the too hot weather, Tobio stayed cradled in the warmth of it, not yet free of the ice, but comforted by the clear skies and the suffocating humidity nonetheless.

While Tobio had relaxed into Summer, Hinata grew restless on the days that led up to it. He had paced circles on the grass, smoke surround him, emanating from his skin and from the burning vegetation as Hinata stepped on it. His wings had stopped dripping, had regained an orange coloration, just like the color of his hair had become brighter. Tobio watched the change attentively, realizing he hadn't seen Hinata's in the Summer as of yet.

There was anticipation humming in him, poorly hidden in side-glances and prolonged stares, and sometimes Hinata countered it with a look of his own. Whenever he did, the tension between the two of them grew, thick and hard to breathe around, something Tobio didn't have a name for, but found himself desiring all the same.

So, when Hinata came to him on the very first day of Summer, looking the brightest Tobio had seen him, wings of fire stretched behind him, eyes glowing almost red, Tobio had to catch his breath first before taking a step towards him.

He wasn't sure who leaned in first, but it hardly mattered when their lips collided, their orbit drawing them together, binding, magnetic. Tobio exhaled against Hinata's lips, and wings moved to cover him, not quite touching, but the heat searing itself onto his skin all the same. Tobio parted his lips, let Hinata fit his own in the space of it like a jigsaw puzzle, so close they became more of a mess of shared limbs rather than two separate people.

Hinata slipped a hand into his hair, pulling him downwards, like he wished to bring them impossibly closer. Tobio clutched at his clothes, at his skin, touched it hungrily, needily. There was fire working itself into him, working itself into his veins, so strong Tobio feared it might bring him apart entirely.

The ice that had grown inside himself finally thawed, cracked, shattered, much like Tobio himself did. The fragments of it fell, forgotten at their feet, promptly melting due to Hinata's was.

He felt stuffed full, a toy with too much filling. It was a little scary; it was exhilarating.

Tobio couldn't help it: he laughed, and Hinata soon followed, a joyful, bright sound, like the clear bright sky above them.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm always open for talking over [@mamichigo](https://mamichigo.tumblr.com) on Tumblr or [@ma_michigo](https://twitter.com/ma_michigo) on Twitter!


End file.
